New York school goes all-vegetarian

Submitted without comment and for the benefit of Dan Thomas who (thank you very much) is quite active in childhood nutrition..

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/health/ne ... ?hpt=hp_t1

Asked which school meals were their favorites, students at a public school in the New York borough of Queens don't say chicken fingers or meatballs. Instead, they name rice and kidney beans, black bean quesadillas or tofu with Chinese noodles.

"Whoever thought they would hear a third-grader saying that they liked tofu and Chinese noodles?" asked Dennis Walcott, New York City schools chancellor.

Walcott was at the Active Learning Elementary School this week to celebrate its move to all-vegetarian meals five days a week. The school of nearly 400 students, from pre-kindergarten to third grade, was founded five years ago on the principle that a healthy lifestyle leads to strong academic achievement....

Don't know how Dan feels about it but I think it's a great idea. As long as the children's diet has plenty of plant protein the animal protein will never be missed.

Some time back I attended (in a working capacity) a convention of regional Hindus. There must have been two or three thousand of them. They invited us to enjoy their buffet composed entirely of fruit, vegetables and grains. Our hostess explained they eat only a non meat diet. I noticed something that didn't stand out right away in the crowd. I asked my co workers to count the number of fat or over weight individuals in the crowd. In a crowd of over two thousand we saw only 6 overweight individuals. You can draw your own conclusions but in such a large collection of people from a four or five state area I think the influence of a non meat diet is pretty obvious.

I don't agree with this at all. While it is certainly nothing wrong with a vegetarian/vegan diet if it's well-balanced it should be a personal choice and not dictated! If they were offering it as an option for the students I would be in favor of it but since they are forcing it on them I'm not. This type of diet is not the predominant type of diet in the United States now and probably never will be so why should you force the students to live that type of lifestyle while at school?

A vegetarian diet isn't by definition any healthier than a conventional diet if they are both executed correctly.

I don't agree with this at all. While it is certainly nothing wrong with a vegetarian/vegan diet if it's well-balanced it should be a personal choice and not dictated! If they were offering it as an option for the students I would be in favor of it but since they are forcing it on them I'm not. This type of diet is not the predominant type of diet in the United States now and probably never will be so why should you force the students to live that type of lifestyle while at school?

A vegetarian diet isn't by definition any healthier than a conventional diet if they are both executed correctly.

To be clear, my understanding of this is that if a kid wants to bring a bologna sandwich for lunch they are free to do so. The school just won't be serving bologna sandwiches. The article indicates that 85% of the students are Asian and that a majority had already been bringing their own vegetarian meals.

I don't agree with this at all. While it is certainly nothing wrong with a vegetarian/vegan diet if it's well-balanced it should be a personal choice and not dictated! If they were offering it as an option for the students I would be in favor of it but since they are forcing it on them I'm not. This type of diet is not the predominant type of diet in the United States now and probably never will be so why should you force the students to live that type of lifestyle while at school?

A vegetarian diet isn't by definition any healthier than a conventional diet if they are both executed correctly.

To be clear, my understanding of this is that if a kid wants to bring a bologna sandwich for lunch they are free to do so. The school just won't be serving bologna sandwiches. The article indicates that 85% of the students are Asian and that a majority had already been bringing their own vegetarian meals.

That's a good thing but if my child was one of the 15% who wasn't Asian and didn't eat vegetarian meals I would certainly feel like my child was being discriminated against! There are many other things that are a lot less obvious that are considered discrimination!

Hard to see how they are being discriminated against if they are not served meat at school. It's not like forcing a Muslim or Jewish child to eat pork. One meal a day without meat is not going to hurt anyone.

eating a meal that doesn't contain animal flesh isn't a "lifestyle" which is being forced on the children.

my kids eat caviar every day, your school system won't feed them caviar; therefore they are being discriminated against. okayyyyyyy.

they can have a nutritious meal without meat which saves money and simplifies life in the kitchen in terms of food handling and prep. win win win win.

eating a meal that doesn't contain animal flesh isn't a "lifestyle" which is being forced on the children.

Maybe, maybe not. Vegetarian is a lifestyle, as is omnivorism. I think the important distinction is "one meal." As a parent, my primary concern would be that nutritional needs are being met, regardless of what is on the menu. We eat many meatless meals in our house, we also eat plenty of meat. Going one meal meatless shouldn't be that big of a deal.

As long as a "lifestyle" isn't being forced on the kids and nutritional needs are being met, I think the school can serve as it sees fit. You are always welcome to bring a bologna sammy.

I really don't have a dog in this fight any more.....

my kids eat caviar every day, your school system won't feed them caviar; therefore they are being discriminated against. okayyyyyyy.

Agreed.....accurate analogy.

I don't agree with this at all. While it is certainly nothing wrong with a vegetarian/vegan diet if it's well-balanced it should be a personal choice and not dictated! If they were offering it as an option for the students I would be in favor of it but since they are forcing it on them I'm not. This type of diet is not the predominant type of diet in the United States now and probably never will be so why should you force the students to live that type of lifestyle while at school?

A vegetarian diet isn't by definition any healthier than a conventional diet if they are both executed correctly.

I disagree with the final claim. Executed correctly is an unusual phrase. What do you mean? Study after study show vegetarians with lower incidences of plenty of chronic diseases and cancers. The further you get from a meat-eating diet towards one without animal products at all (vegan), the better your numbers get. Here's an example of a study: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/5/ ... nsion.html (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)

Of course, individual studies mean very little. Rather, a comprehensive body of knowledge is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions. That body of knowledge is accumulating if you're willing to look. I have concluded that a vegetarian diet is far healthier, "executed" in the manners in which normal people carry it out.

All I can really speak for is what swayed me to go meatless. Looking at cultures worldwide ALL the isolated pockets of people with extremely (meaning over 100 years) long lifespans lead a meat free or almost no meat existence. Some consume varying degrees of dairy but usually very little because of the refrigeration problem. They also stayed active during their entire lifetime. No spas, no gyms, no HMOs, no bottled water, bottled vitamins, no dietary supplements, no colonics , no bee pollen, just no meat.
And I am not trying to slap you meat eaters in the face or insult any BBQ fanatics or shame anyone into my way of thinking. I just got a great number of things left I want to do and I want the time to do it. For the life of me I just don't get why this topic always causes such a row.